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Crisis in Ukraine

After airstrike kills 4 near border, war with Russia looks more likely

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoDmitry Lovetsky | ASSOCIATED PRESSIgor Chernetsov describes an airstrike in Snizhne in eastern Ukraine that destroyed a residential building, killing his wife and at least three others. Blame for yesterday’s attack is disputed.

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By David M. Herszenhorn &Sabrina TaverniseTHE NEW YORK TIMES • Wednesday July 16, 2014 8:31 AM

KIEV, Ukraine — Accusations of cross-border hostilities between Ukraine and Russia intensified
yesterday, deepening a shadowy war of real or imagined attacks and sabotage that threatens to draw
the two countries into direct conflict.

Ukrainian military officials said they think Russia launched an airstrike that killed at least
four civilians in the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne, about 12 miles from the border.

Pro-Russia separatist rebels, in turn, said the Ukrainian military carried out the bombing,
which destroyed a residential building.

U.S. and European officials said yesterday that the United States is considering imposing
unilateral sanctions on Russia over its threatening moves in Ukraine, a shift in strategy that
reflects the Obama administration’s frustration with Europe’s reluctance to take tougher action
against Moscow.

Until now, the United States has insisted on hitting Russia with penalties in concert with
Europe to maximize the impact and present a united Western front. The European Union has a far
stronger economic relationship with Russia, making the 28-nation bloc’s participation key to
ensuring that sanctions packages have enough teeth to deter Russia.

But those same ties have made Europe fearful that tougher penalties against Russia could
boomerang. After weeks of inaction by Europe, the officials say the United States is prepared act
alone if EU officials fail to enact strong sanctions during a meeting today in Brussels.

The U.S. official cautioned that no decisions would be final until after the European meeting
and said the administration’s preference is still to coordinate punishments.

The announcement by Ukraine’s general prosecutor’s office that it is collecting evidence of
Russia’s role in the airstrike came a day after the government in Kiev said Russia was responsible
for the downing of a military transport plane in Luhansk. A day before that, the Russian Foreign
Ministry warned of “irreversible consequences” after one man was killed and two people were wounded
when mortar fire hit the town of Donetsk on the Russian side of the border.

Anatoliy Matios, a Ukrainian deputy general prosecutor, said at a news conference in Kiev that
the government intends to document Russia’s involvement in the bombing in Snizhne. “It will be
proven according to international standards that a neighboring state used military equipment and
ammunition,” Matios said.

While separatists blamed the government for the airstrike, Ukrainian officials insisted that all
military flights had been suspended on Monday after the downing of a military transport plane in a
rocket attack. Russia denied that the rocket that destroyed the plane had been fired from its side
of the border.

With the risk of open war between Russia and Ukraine seeming to escalate by the day, the foreign
ministers of Ukraine, France and Germany spoke by telephone yesterday with the chief of Russia’s
presidential administration, Sergei Ivanov, and once again called for a resumption of negotiations
by a group tasked with brokering a political resolution.

The talks have been stalled for more than 15 days, since Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
broke a unilateral cease-fire, and there was little sign that progress would come quickly.